The Greatest Plot
by Lily214
Summary: Lily and James are Head Boy and Head Girl, and Lily is determined to get rid of him. But what happens when she pretends to fall in love with him so that she can catch him and the Marauders?


Lily Evans' jaw dropped. She stared at the messy raven haired boy before her.

"You are not the head boy."

"Well, Lils, actually I am."

"No, you're not."

"Lils…"

"STOP CALLING ME LILS!" Her green eyes flashed and she shoved past the tall, lanky, albeit handsome, boy, who was the biggest problem in her world. She stormed down the train and barged into the compartment her friends were in.

"Lily, is your meeting over already?" Her best friend, Melinda, or Mindy, smiled sweetly.

Lily snorted, "No. It was interrupted by the entrance of one James Potter."

The other four girls stared in shock.

One of them quietly whispered, "No…"

Lily began to shake, "Oh yes. James Potter. THE James Potter. The James Potter who professes his love to me every day—the James Potter who won't take no for an answer and who won't leave me alone! Not to mention the irresponsible, arrogant, prick who pranks every student in this bloody school and complete disrupts all types of peace! How could Dumbledore make him Head Boy? What was he thinking? He _obviously_ doesn't realize the kind of damage Potter incurs upon this school…if he knew…if he knew…" Lily suddenly sank to a seat, pausing with an evil gleam in his eye, "If he knew…that's it. I just have to catch James doing something, and prove it to Dumbledore somehow…or show Dumbledore…or…or…"

"How, exactly, are you going to do that Lils?" Ruth asked, "The Marauders are the most secretive people in Hogwarts—everyone always KNOWS that they did the pranks, everyone is fully aware that they do the pranks—in fact, it's not like they try and hide the fact that they do. They're very honest if you ask, but no one can actually prove anything they've done."

Lily sighed and ran a hand through her hair. It was silent for a few very long moments.

"But…"Mindy began, pausing and looking Lily dead in the eye, "James is in love with you."

"So what?" Lily spat, "That's not going to help us get him in trouble!"

"But...if you were James' girlfriend, don't you think he'd let you in on their little secrets?"

The room fell silent again.

"Oh my God, Mindy, you're a genius." Lily stared at her best friend in shock.

"Lily, you can't just mess with James' emotions like that!" Lorraine spoke up boldly, "You could break his heart."

" I don't care about hurting him, Lorraine. I have to get him out of the Head Boy position. You know how horrible he's made my life the last 6 years—imagine how things will be when he's working with me daily? He's torn my heart apart a million times. Do you remember in fourth year when I finally thought maybe I loved him back? And he tore my heart in two? Do you remember fifth year when he let Sirius betwitch that bag of gumballs to follow me around mercilessly pelt me all day until I agreed to go on a date with him? Do you remember last year when he KIDNAPPED ME FROM MY BED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT to try to persuade me I loved him? Imagine how things will be because of HIM! I'll be remembered as the worst Head Girl that ever served at Hogwarts? Instead of this being the stepping stone to my career, this could ruin me!" Lily was gasping for breath—her voice had risen to a dynamic shout.

"Well, I guess we only have one problem them, " Mindy sighed.

"And what's that?" Lily's eyebrows arched.

"How are we going to get you to stop hating him long enough to date him so you can get him in trouble?" Mindy asked with a serious face, and Sarah had to snort back a laugh.

Lily looked around the compartment at her four best friends. Mindy's dark black hair was cut in a short bob, and her pale skin was a beautiful, smooth contrast. Her brown eyes were constantly shimmering—she was completely stunning, aside from one small scar which ran across her left cheek. It had appeared half-way through first year, and she'd never told anyone how she had gotten it.

Ruth and Sarah were twins. They both had brown hair which hung past their waists, however Ruth rarely let hers down. She mostly left it tucked up in a bun, and the clothing she wore tended to be baggier. Her blue eyes were tucked behind glasses, and her face was normally tucked behind a book. She was lovely, but most people just saw the books, and her "hippie" styled clothing and never really gave her a chance. Sarah spent a lot of time on her appearance—she had perfectly straight brown hair, clear blue eyes, and a lightly freckled face. However, she too was often tucked behind a book. The difference was that Ruth's big heart and quiet ways deeply contrasted with Sarah's "go get 'em" attitude—her opinions were loud, and they were never left unsaid.

Finally, there was Lorraine. Lorraine was the flirt of the group. Lorraine had dated every guy in their grade—except for James. James was stubborn—he wouldn't date anyone, unless it was Lily. So, Lorraine probably wouldn't particularly like Lily's new plan. Lily watched as Lorraine flipped her blonde hair around unnecessarily. Nope, she wouldn't like it at all.

Lorraine's sharp green eyes cut into Lily's as she sniffed loudly, "I don't like this plan. Not at all."

"Get over it, Lorraine. Maybe after Lily breaks his heart he'll go out with you." Mindy glared at her friend, and Lorraine's countenance brightened a bit.

"I still think you're being cruel, Lily…but you're my friend, not James. So if you need help, I'm in." Ruth smiled gently.

"Well, I should start by heading back to the Heads' compartment…and I guess I should try to be nice." Lily made a sour face and then glumly left the compartment. If she could just persuade James that she finally liked him, she could get rid of him. Lily smiled at those who she passed in the train and said hello to anyone who looked like a first year. After all, she had a reputation to uphold. She finally made it to the head compartment and took a deep breath, knowing that by now all of the prefects would be present. She slowly swung the door open and smiled at everyone inside.

"Hello, everyone. I'm Lily Evans, and I'll be your Head Girl this year. We're going to wrap up this meeting as quickly as possible, but I need to talk to the Head—to James for a moment if you don't mind." Everyone in the room exchanged glances, but James quickly exited the room, running a hand through his hair nervously.

"What's up, Lils?"

"Look. I just had a nice long talk with Mindy. She suggested that you and I try to be friends—"

"I can be friends. I can be more than friends, too." James winked.

"James, knock it off. I'm serious about this. We need to try to get along—that means you can't go hitting on me every five seconds, and I can't scream and yell at you all the time. But if you hit on me, I will scream and yell—"

"And if you scream and yell, I get to hit on you?"

"JAMES!"

"Hogsmeade is coming up soon, wanna go together?"

"I said no hitting!"

"You yelled!"

The pair stood staring at each other in the hallway—Lily was fuming mad, and James had a funny little smile on his face.

"Sorry Lils, you're right. This is serious. I won't hit on you anymore. I promise." James held out his hand, and Lily hesitated, "I won't call you Lils either. Marauder's promise."

Lily smiled a little and shook his hand, "Now, let's get this meeting finished."

The pair walked back inside the room and began to address the small group of elite students. James had covered most of the rules and regulations already—Lily wondered how he'd known them all, as he hadn't been a prefect—and all they had left to do was hand out the rounds calendar. Lily began to pass out the sheet she had put together, and already heard some groans.

"But I have Quidditch practice then!" She heard one Ravenclaw girl moan.

Lily smiled and said, "I owled all of the Quidditch captains—none of them are starting practice until after this first week, so these schedules shouldn't interfere with anything. James and I will be contacting the various captains and presidents of other organizations so that nothing will conflict with your schedules. "

A brief sigh went around the room, and James gave Lily a calculating look.

"Remember, though, prefects, that this position is not just an honor. It's a responsibility. I fully expect each and every one of you to be willing to give up your other "enjoyments" for your prefect duty's now and again. I'm sure I will have to give up Quidditch practice at some point, and I'm absolutely positive I'll have to miss out on quite a bit of time with my friends this year—I expect the same sacrifices from each of you." Lily nodded her head, and they all left quickly.

James turned to her, "So Remus told me something about the Heads."

"And what was that?" Lily was busying herself picking up anything left over in the room.

"Well, you know how he dated the Head Girl last year for a few weeks?"

"Yes." Lily nodded curtly. She also remembered the girl had dumped him and didn't speak to him or the rest of the Marauders again.

"Well, the Heads of Houses get their own common room and bedrooms."

Lily spun to face him, "What?"

James nodded, "There's a special Head common room near each of the House common rooms—normally the Heads are from different houses, so they have different living quarters, but you and I…well, I guess we're sharing."

"It does make sense, doesn't it? That way they can contact us easily, and the other students won't be alarmed if something is wrong." Lily smiled softly to herself, "Besides, with what little time we'll have to ourselves I suppose we'll need a quiet place to study, hm?"

James nodded and motioned for her to sit across from him in the compartment.

Lily sat down cautiously as James began to speak.

"So we're trying to be friends, yes?"

Lily nodded and watched him carefully. It was this exact tone he had used so many times to pull a prank over on her.

"All right. Then I think we need to do a few things. First off we need to spend some time together." Lily began to argue with him, but James held up a hand, "It doesn't have to be alone, maybe your friends and my friends can all hang out in our common room. But my point is we have to get to know each other. Secondly, I need you to know I have to have certain nights off every month, and I can't tell you why. If I don't have them off, you can trust I just won't show up. If I don't go…where I have to go, then someone could get seriously hurt, and it's a chance I'm not willing to take."

Lily was startled by the seriousness of his voice.

"Well, as for…getting to know each other, I agree. I was thinking about asking the girls to come over tonight anyway…why don't you ask Sirius, Remus, and Peter? We'll just have a little party. And…" Lily struggled with the next few words. If she was going to get on his good side, she had to let some things slide, "as far as a few nights off, I don't see why not. Just let me know in advance."

James gaped at Lily and ran another hand through his hair, "Thank you. You don't know how much that means."

"You know, you're not as stupid when your friends aren't around." Lily stared at him.

James just laughed and stood and gave her a little bow, "I'll take that as a compliment. I'm going to go find the other Marauders now…I'll see you at the castle."

"Bye…James."

"Goodbye…Lily."


End file.
